The present application is directed to a cooking appliance, generally a slow cooker, for cooking a foodstuff over a period of time and a method for cooking the foodstuff. More particularly, the present application is directed to a slow cooker with a controller mounted to a side of a shell, a plurality of control modes for cooking foodstuff and a method of utilizing a temperature probe for controlling the cooking of the foodstuff in the slow cooker.
Slow cookers are relatively common household or kitchen appliances that are used to cook a foodstuff over a relatively long time period. Conventional slow cookers typically include a base or shell, a crock removably mountable in a basin of the shell and a lid removably mountable to a mouth of the crock. Foodstuff is positioned in the crock, the crock is positioned in the basin, the lid is positioned over the mouth of the crock and the basin is heated at a predetermined, relatively low temperature over an extended period of time to cook the foodstuff. The foodstuff is typically slow cooked at a relatively constant predetermined temperature until the slow cooker is manually turned off by a user. The typical slow cooker controls include a single control dial on a face of the shell including off, low and high settings.
It would be desirable to construct a slow cooker that includes multiple cooking modes for cooking foodstuffs in various cycles and that automatically power down or keep the foodstuff warm at the conclusion of a cooking cycle to generally prevent the foodstuff from overcooking. In addition, it would be desirable to construct a slow cooker with a conveniently mounted controller that is able to control the various cooking cycles and may be accessed for cleaning and/or repair.